The Resurrection Club by Christopher Wallace


 The Resurrection Club by Christopher Wallace, published by Flamingo (1999)

If you like graveyards and the weird tales associated with them, you'll like this Gothic novel set in Edinburgh. There are two directly connected strands, the first set in 1827 involving the maverick surgeon Alexander Brodie, who is developing a medical instrument to capture the soul. He is acclaimed as a medical genius, but his methods leave much to answer for. Like many surgeons of the time, he relies on buying bodies from grave robbers, or resurrectionists as they were known. He not only turns a blind eye to murder, but is actively involved when it suits his cause.
The second story is in the present day (1999 when the story was published). Charlie Kidd is a PR guru tasked with promoting an unusual artistic experience at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The creator of the show, Peter Dexter, has rediscovered Brodie's contraption and aims to use it to raise the dead. To do so he needs the help of gullible volunteers, whom he shamelessly manipulates.
Behind the scenes there is a law firm, with strange partners, keeping tabs on events, both in the nineteenth century and the present day.
The story is told from several viewpoints, in different styles: from the transcript of an interview to legal reports. Individual narratives vary between first and third person. The one character who doesn't get his own voice is the mysterious Peter Dexter.
It is an ambitious novel delving into questions such as; what is art? should art always be acceptable? what is the nature of the 'establishment'? does the end ever justify the means? can the soul be captured? among many others.

Gothic Rating:

isolated setting:                                                      🕱                                                                              

brooding atmosphere:                                            🕱

mental illness:                                                        🕱

religious reference:

supernatural element:                                            🕱

murder:                                                                 🕱

family secret:                                                        🕱

genius/madness:                                                    🕱

doomed love:


The Resurrection Club has a Gothic rating of 🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱🕱

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